Human Rights Developments

Defending Human Rights

The Role of the International Community

In 2000, there was an alarming increase in threats, harassment, and targeted violence against human rights organizations and activists. In the first half of the year, MINUGUA registered fifty-six threats to human rights activists, witnesses and judicial authorities in human rights cases. Rigoberta Menchú and several colleagues at her foundation received death threats.

Organizations and individuals making human rights claims in the courts were particularly targeted. In September, gunmen entered the offices of the Families of the Detained and Disappeared of Guatemala (FAMDEGUA), a group that had initiated proceedings against General Ríos Montt for the Dos Erres massacre, forcing three staff members to the floor at gunpoint. The gunmen repeatedly threatened to kill the three and stole computers, money, and a vehicle. In August, Celso Balan, a representative of the Center for Legal Action in Human Rights (Centro para la acción legal en Derechos Humanos, CALDH) was detained, beaten, and robbed by individuals posing as journalists but thought to have links with active and retired military officers. MINUGUA noted that such threats were not adequately investigated by the authorities.